


Kingdom Hearts: Another Story

by starfall777



Category: Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:35:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27753940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starfall777/pseuds/starfall777
Summary: Plagued with vague visions of the future, Sky struggles to save her friends before they fall to darkness.
Kudos: 1





	Kingdom Hearts: Another Story

_A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory._

_A far-off memory that's like a scattered dream._

_I want to line the pieces up—yours and mine._

  
  


Night had long since fallen in the Land of Departure, casting shadows over the largely empty castle. Though it was long past the time for sleep, most of its inhabitants remained awake, waiting eagerly for the day to come. The long-awaited Mark of Mastery Exam was upon them. While only two students would be participating, everyone was excited for the event. It wasn’t everyday students became Keyblade Masters.

Master Eraqus sat at his desk, putting the finishing touches on the exam trials. Though he deeply wanted both his students to pass, he knew he had to make the challenges difficult. Holding the title of Keyblade Master was not for the faint of heart. There was a massive responsibility to protect the worlds from the darkness, and it was his duty to ensure that his pupils walked in the way of light. Both students showed promise, but whether they could handle the darkness remained to be seen.

A knock on his door drew his attention. He expected everyone else to be asleep or at least preparing for tomorrow. Perhaps someone was seeking last-minute advice, nervous for the trials to come.

“You may enter,” Eraqus acknowledged.

Eraqus’ eyebrows raised in surprise at the man that walked through the door. He wasn’t expecting to see him until tomorrow, just before the exam. His early presence was a surprise, but not unwelcome.

“It has been far too long, old friend,” the man greeted him, his gold eyes meeting Eraqus’ brown.

“Xehanort,” Eraqus said, rising from his desk to shake the man’s hand. “I was not expecting you until tomorrow.”

“I was hoping to get a glimpse at our two young prospects, but it seems I have arrived too late,” Xehanort replied. “Not to mention the fact that it’s been years since we’ve last seen each other. We have a fair bit of ‘catching up’ to do.”

Eraqus nodded. Though Xehanort tended to visit here and there throughout the years, he hadn’t spent much time with the man since their youth. Xehanort had lost his hair, seeming to only be able to grow out a goatee and now walked with a hunch. If Eraqus didn’t know better, he would have assumed the man to be feeble. But he could sense the underlying power Xehanort held and he was _not_ to be taken lightly.

Motioning for Xehanort to take a seat, Eraqus settled into his chair once more.

“Both Aqua and Terra have shown great potential. I believe that they will make exemplary Keyblade Masters,” Eraqus remarked. “Aqua demonstrates good judgment and modesty, both of which will serve her well in the future. Terra, on the other hand, is extremely strong-willed. Such strength will help him through the most difficult of trials.”

Xehanort nodded, satisfied with his response.

“And what of Ventus?” Xehanort inquired.

Eraqus raised a brow at the question. It had been years since Xehanort had left him with a zombielike Ventus. He had even fallen into a coma shortly after his arrival, much to the dismay of himself and his apprentices. Sometime later, he had woken up and has been cheerful and overly-excited since then. Eraqus was glad that Ventus had recovered but had always been suspicious as to what had happened in the first place. Ventus had no memories prior to arrival, which was odd, but Eraqus decided not to press further

“Ventus demonstrates great proficiency with his Keyblade,” Eraqus noted. “He trains just as hard as Terra and Aqua. His cheerful nature will be of great help to him in the future. He is a bit naive, but that will be solved with time.”

“So he continues to make progress…” Xehanort stated, seemingly deep in thought.

Eraqus leaned back in his chair studying the pensive man in front of him. He did not like the look in Xehanort’s eyes. There was something almost… evil about his change in demeanor. It was as if he was plotting something unsavory.

Before Eraqus could inquire what was on his mind, Xehanort suddenly leaned forward in his chair.

“I have heard that you brought a young girl here,” Xehanort probed. “Is that true?”

 _‘How did he hear about that?’_ Eraqus thought with a frown. The way Xehanort acquired information was problematic at best. In the two years that the child had been there, they had not had any visitors, nor had she left. They were not trying to hide the girl but the fact that Xehanort knew about her troubled him.

“Yes,” Eraqus began cautiously. “Sky has been with us for about two years now. She’s only five.”

“So young…” Xehanort mused. “Why bring her on this early?”

“Her mother died and I promised to take care of her,” Eraqus stated.

“Will she inherit the Keyblade?” Xehanort asked.

“Not yet,” Eraqus replied. “Perhaps in a few years, but for now she is too young. Though Aqua does seem to enjoy teaching her magic.” He could feel the unease creep into his mind. The less Xehanort knew about her, the better, Eraqus decided. She was too young to get caught up in whatever Xehanort was planning.

Xehanort nodded pensively before rising from his seat.

“It is getting late,” Xehanort noted. “It would be wise of us to get some rest before the exam tomorrow.”

“Agreed,” Eraqus said, also rising from his seat and leading him out the door.

Xehanort’s sudden interest in his younger apprentices filled Eraqus with apprehension. He wasn’t sure when, but he was sure something bad was about to happen. And he was not going to allow his students to get in the middle of it.

* * *

“Come on…” a young voice pleaded, focusing her energy on the cup in front of her.

It had been weeks since Aqua taught Sky how to conjure water, but the skill was eluding her. Fire had been easy. Wind was trickier but doable. But water? It was seemingly impossible. No matter how hard she tried, the element would not appear.

It was late, and Sky was sure to receive a scolding from Master Eraqus if he found out she was practicing at this hour; but she wanted to surprise Aqua before the exam, so she vowed not to sleep until she could summon at least a little bit of water.

Her magic wasn’t anything impressive, but Sky was thrilled that she was able to work with the blue-haired Keyblade wielder. She wanted to learn all that she could before Aqua’s duties took her elsewhere.

While the other three were focused on becoming Keyblade Masters, she was to take her basic lessons and occasionally practice magic. Though she expressed interest in learning with the future Keyblade Masters, Master Eraqus starkly refused, stating that she was too young to participate in combat training with the other apprentices. 

Sky called it unfair. Terra called it ‘being a kid.’ No more arguments were to be had with Master Eraqus.

Shutting her eyes, Sky doubled her efforts, attempting to will the element into existence, but the cup remained empty.

 _'Why won’t it work?’_ She pouted.

Vexed by her lack of progress, Sky opened her eyes and rose from her spot on the floor. 

_'You can’t force the magic to come out,’_ Aqua’s voice reverberated through her mind. _‘You have to let it flow through you.’_

Sky huffed in frustration, turning and to walk towards the window seel of her bedroom. That frustration was soon forgotten the moment her eyes landed on the night sky.

“A meteor shower!” She exclaimed, eyes gleaming with excitement.

Completely forgetting her feelings of irritation, Sky pushed herself away from the window and ran out of the room. Meteor showers were a rare occurrence in the Land of Departure and she didn’t want to miss it.

Sky excitedly made her way down the hallway, noting the two open doors as she passed. To get a good view of the sky, she would need to leave the castle, which was strictly forbidden. Plus, she would need a little help getting there.

Finally reaching her destination, she frantically knocked on the door in front of her.

“Terra!” she called out.

No answer.

“Terrraaaaa!” Sky drawled, a frown beginning to form on her face.

 _‘Maybe he’s not here?’_ Sky wondered. Just as she was about to sulk back to her room, a click could be heard, signaling the unlocking of the door.

She immediately brightened, the excitement of possibly leaving the castle returning. 

The door swung open, revealing a tired, brown-haired, blue-eyed man. He glanced down at the young girl, confused at her sudden presence.

“Sky…” he began groggily, “is something wrong?” Terra peered down the hallway, wondering if the others were in trouble.

“There’s a meteor shower!” She exclaimed, smiling.

Terra groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. For as long as she had been there, Sky had always been excitable. Every time she wanted to do something she wasn’t allowed to do, Sky would come to him and beg for help. With the occurrence of a meteor shower, she wanted to leave the castle. Master Eraqus gave him an earful that last time he took her out without permission. He wasn’t going to give in to her demands. Not this time.

“You need to go to bed,” he grunted.

“But -”

“No.”

“Pleeeease... “ Skylar begged. “I can barely see it from my window and there hasn’t been one in a while!”

“I have a lot to do before the exam tomorrow. And that includes sleeping. I’m sure Aqua would say the same thing,” Terra said, turning to close the door so he could get some much-needed rest. 

“But Aqua’s not even here!” Sky pouted.

Terra stopped at that statement.

“She’s not here?” Terra reiterated, turning back towards the child.

 _‘Is she getting in some last-minute training?’_ he wondered. _‘Without me?’_

Sky shook her head.

“Nope. And Ven’s not here either. They’re not in their rooms,” she added.

Terra sighed. Aqua was always working so hard, the last thing he wanted to do was to fall behind. ‘ _And if Ven’s gone, they could be training together,’_ he thought. He couldn’t afford to be lax in his training, not with the Mark of Mastery exam just around the corner.

Sky stared at him in anticipation as he grappled with the decision of going to find his friends.

“Fine,” he said. “But only for a little while. Master would kill me if he knew you were out this late...again.”

“Yay!” Sky exclaimed, grabbing Terra’s hand and pulling him down the hallway. “Let’s go!”

Terra sighed once more, stumbling along.

_This girl is going to be the death of me…_

* * *

The trek to the summit was no challenge for Terra, but it would be nearly impossible for a child as young as Sky, mostly due to the fact that there were a few ledges she was too short to reach; but with Terra there, he was able to easily help her up.

Once he lifted her up the last ledge, Sky skipped down the path, hoping they hadn’t missed the meteor shower.

A few twists and turns later, the grassy summit clearing came into view. Not much was kept on the summit as the space was often used for sparring. A lone bench sat near the cliff, typically used by Master Eraqus to observe his apprentices as they trained. Just past the bench, Sky spotted Aqua and Ven sitting on the cliff edge, quietly conversing while watching the stars.

“You ever wonder what stars are?” Terra and Sky could hear Ven ask as they quietly approached. “Where light comes from?”

“Hmmm…” Aqua contemplated. “Well, they say-”

“That every star up there is another world,” Terra interrupted.

Startled by the sudden intrusion, Aqua and Ventus quickly turn around, relaxing as they see Terra and Sky approach.

“Terra!” Aqua greeted. 

“Yep, hard to believe there are so many worlds out there besides our own,” he continued. “The light is their hearts, and it’s shining down on us like a million lanterns.”

Ven stared back at him in confusion.

“What? I don’t get it.”

“In other words, they're just like you, Ven,” Terra said.

“What does _that_ mean?” Ven asked, exasperated by the comment.

“You’ll find out someday…”

“But I wanna know now!”

“You’re too young to know now!”

Aqua laughed, then turned to the young girl beside Terra.

“Speaking of being too young…” Aqua said, leaving the two boys to argue. “Shouldn’t you be in bed? You know Master doesn’t like it when you’re up this late at night,” she chastised.

“But I wanted to see the meteor shower…” Sky pouted.

“Alright, alright…” Aqua laughed. “But when we get back to the castle, it’s straight to bed.”

“Okay!” Sky beamed, hopping up on the bench.

“Quit treating me like a kid!” Ven exclaimed.

The two girls turned their attention back to Ventus and Terra as they continued to argue, giggling at the sight.

“Hey! What are you two laughing about?” Terra asked.

“I can’t help it,” Aqua said, stifling her laughter. “You two would make the weirdest brothers.”

“Huh?” Ven and Terra stared back at the two giggling girls, confused. Confusion quickly turns into glee as they join in on the laughter.

Eventually, the laughter calmed and everyone settled on their spots by the cliff’s edge, staring up at the stars.

 _‘So pretty…’_ Sky thought in awe. It seemed as if all the stars were falling out of the sky tonight. Once the streak of a meteor faded, another quickly took its place. It wasn’t often that the apprentices had a moment to relax and now with the Mark of Mastery Exam around the corner, it was important to enjoy these moments of peace.

“Oh yeah!” Aqua piped up, rising from her place on the cliff. “Terra, you and I have our Mark of Mastery exams tomorrow.” She pulls out four charms shaped like stars from her back pocket. “I made us good luck charms!”

She tossed an orange one to Terra and a green one to Ventus. Making her way toward the bench, she hands a purple charm to Sky.

“We get one too?” Ven smiled, examining the charm.

“Of course. One for each of us,” Aqua said. “Somewhere out there, there’s this tree with star-shaped fruit… and the fruit represents an unbreakable connection. So as long as you and your friends carry good luck charms shaped like it, nothing can ever drive you apart. You will always find your way back to each other. Technically, I think you’re supposed to make them with seashell, but I did the best with what I had.”

“You are such a girl sometimes,” Terra laughed.

“Hey! What do you mean by ‘sometimes?’” Aqua glared at the man.

“So this isn’t a real good luck charm?” Ven asked, slightly disappointed.

Aqua turned towards Ventus, slightly smiling.

“Well, that’s yet to be seen. But I did work a little magic on it.”

“Really? What?” Ven perked up.

“An unbreakable connection!” She adds.

“It’s so pretty!” Sky smiled, turning the charm over in her hands. “So we’ll always be connected? Even when you’re off on different worlds?”

“Sounds like it,” Terra said. “And my charm will be telling your charm to listen to Master and do your work,” he teased.

“I don’t think that‘s how that works,” Sky said, annoyed.

“Say’s who?”

“Say’s me,” Sky retorted.

“Anyways…” Terra started, steering away from the subject, “Tomorrow’s the exam. Anybody wanna spar?”

“I can take ya!” Ven volunteered, summoning his Keyblade, Wayward Wind.

As the two boys made their way to the middle of the clearing, Aqua made her way to the bench to sit next to Sky.

“Don’t tell Master we let you watch a training session,” Aqua said, settling on the bench.

Sky nodded watching Terra and Ven in anticipation. She had only seen them spar a few times and was always left amazed with how easy they made fighting look.

The two boys stared each other down before Ven launched himself in Terra’s direction with incredible speed, beginning a flurry of attacks in quick succession. Sky was always amazed at how fast Ven could move. He used his short and slim stature to his advantage, quickly taking out targets before they could overwhelm him.

Unphased by his speed, Terra simply lifted his own Keyblade, Earthshaker, and easily blocked the blonde’s attacks. Terra remained unmovable as Ven sent a barrage of attacks his way. Though Terra moved slowly, he relied solely on brute force to defeat his opponents. Simply put, he was built like a tank and there was no getting past him. He was unwavering in his movements, which was something Sky had always admired.

“Quit going easy on me! You’re not gonna win unless you stay on the offensive!” Ven called out.

At that statement, Terra rushed forward, blocking another series of his attacks. Ven stumbled back, leaving himself wide open to Terra’s heavy-handed blows. After a few hits, Terra let up, leaving a stunned Ven to recover from the blitz.

“Well, that works fine if you’re fighting one on one,” Aqua said, summoning her own Keyblade, Rainfell, and took Terra’s place. “But you need to know how to handle a crowd too.”

Terra stood next to Sky, taking a moment to catch his breath.

“I hope you’re taking good notes,” he joked. “That’s gonna be you out there someday.”

“Do you think I’ll be good at it?” Sky looked up at him, eyes gleaming.

“Only if you work hard,” Terra said, ruffling her hair.

They turned their attention back to the clearing. Before Ven could make a move, Aqua had already summoned her magic. Running around the field, Ven quickly dodged the fire coming his way. Aqua’s fighting style primarily relied on magic. Over time, she was able to mix close-combat with ranged-combat to defeat her enemies.

Sky’s eyes sparkled as she watched Aqua masterfully conjure the elements. One day, she hoped that she could use magic with the ease and grace that Aqua displayed.

“Okay! Let’s wrap this up!” Terra called out.

Sky hopped off the bench and made her way towards Ven.

“That was so cool, Ven!” She exclaimed. “Can you teach me to move that fast?”

The older boy smiled down at her. A few months after waking up from his coma, Master Eraqus had brought the young girl to live with them. Ven had come to think of her as his little sister. Whenever he wasn’t studying or training, he would often spend time with Sky, telling her about his training sessions and things he’s learned.

“Sure!” He said. “But, uh, only when Master lets you start training,” he added, sheepishly.

“Hey, we’re gonna head back,” Terra called, walking towards the mountain path.

“Okay!” Sky said, running after him.

Staring up at the night sky one last time, Aqua clutched the charm to her chest.

“Together...always…” she whispered to herself before catching up to the others.

  
  
  


_That would be the last night we ever spent beneath the same stars._


End file.
